A man was left fighting for his life after a ‘really muscly’ kangaroo ‘tried to drown’ him while the two were throwing fists.
The marsupial is believed to have become ‘very distressed’ when it became trapped in a flooded area in Australia.
Don James was warning passer-bys on Friday morning that there was a large kangaroo near a parked car in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, when the creature ‘as big as the car’ it was standing next to became aggressive.
‘They literally got into a boxing match,’ local Kirsty Lees said, ‘I’m looking in the rear-view mirror and they are throwing punches.’
As Mr James tried to run away, he tripped and fell into the flooded area.
The kangaroo was then ‘holding him down’ and ‘tried to drown the man’.
When another person came to Mr James’s assistance, the animal darted away.
‘I just remember being under water and kicking and screaming and carrying on,’ Mr James told Australian news network ABC.
Don James was left fighting for his life after a ‘really muscly’ kangaroo ‘tried to drown’ him while the two were throwing fists
The marsupial (centre) is believed to have become ‘very distressed’ when it became trapped in a flooded area in Australia
The flooding has devastated the area, with five people confirmed dead after dangerous conditions prevented emergency crews from accessing a home
It was a ‘pretty traumatic’ experience and comes only a year after he had to fend off a great white shark attack.
‘I feel like they’re trying to kill me, all these animals.’
Ms Lees, who went to check the water levels with her husband at 9.00am local time (11.00pm GMT yesterday) when she spotted Mr James, told the BBC that ‘it’s not everyday a big, male kangaroo decides to take you on… Even in Australia, you do not expect to see it.’
Kangaroos have been known to drown animals when they feel threatened or cornered likely as a defence mechanism but will usually take on much smaller animals.
Mr James explained ‘there’s a very strong instinct – kangaroos will go to water if they’re threatened by a predator’.
A local wildlife rescue added that animals in distress can display unusual behaviours.
Kym Kilpatrick from Fauna said ‘we would ask that people be cautious in their approach, put their safety first and foremost and use PPE [for a rescue] like gloves and mask’.
She added: ‘There’s a lot of bacteria with all the flood waters carrying many contaminants.’
The flooding has devastated the area, with five people confirmed dead after dangerous conditions prevented emergency crews from accessing a home.
The body of a man believed to be his 80s was found inside a burnt-out vehicle in a shed on a Cooplacurripa property, about 50km north-west of Taree on the NSW mid-north coast.
A concern for welfare had been raised on Wednesday after the shed was reportedly spotted alight, but severe weather conditions prevented crews from getting to the property by road.
Access to the home was only possible by helicopter with officers arriving early on Friday afternoon, NSW Police said in a statement.
Of the five deaths linked to the record-breaking floods, three have involved drivers.
The body of a man in his late 70s was found on Friday after his vehicle appeared to be swept off a causeway at Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour.
The rain and flooding has moved further south but many communities on the mid-north coast remain cut-off by road
Emergency crews have conducted hundreds of rescue throughout the NSW mid-north coast
Disaster recovery payments have been green-lighted for 19 local government areas
Fire and Rescue NSW teams rescue more than 100 people stranded in mid-north coast floodwaters in New South Wales yesterday
Fire and Rescue NSW crews moving house to house through waist-deep water to account for flood victims as the death count rises to five
Workers load piles of debris onto a garbage truck following a flood at Pulteney Street
Another man died at a flooded home near Taree, as did a driver west of Port Macquarie and a 60-year-old woman near Coffs Harbour.
The intense rainfall that has battered the mid-north coast for several days moved south on Friday, but communities remain cut off and it will take some time to recover once floodwaters recede.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Chris Minns planned to visit hard-hit Taree but their attempt to meet affected locals was called off, further highlighting the town’s isolation by its second major flood in four years.
